Homes and other buildings located in shore areas are subject to the risk of damage and destruction from floodwaters associated with storm surges. Construction of foundations for homes/buildings above the flood hazard elevation is often not practical from a technical and/or economic standpoint. Even where foundation construction above historic flood levels is feasible, the trend toward increasingly powerful storm surges in recent years poses a risk to any building in proximity to a large body of water.
One potential approach to minimize the risks associated with storm surges is to design a floating foundation that can rise and fall with the flood water level. While designs for pontoon-supported floating structures are known, the problem of maintaining a level platform under condition of variable and/or unevenly-distributed buoyancy has heretofore not been satisfactorily solved.